The present invention relates to devices for monitoring the physiological attributes of a user and more particularly to a combination fingerprint and oximetry device that identifies or confirms the identity of the user as the oxygen saturation level of the arterial blood of the user is being monitored.
The oxygen saturation in blood is monitored by oximeters. Some of these oximeters include BCI""s 6200 and 6100 Series Vital Sign Monitors, and BCI""s Capnocheck Plus, Autocorr Plus and Mini-Torr Plus monitors. In addition, there are a number of handheld pulse monitors including for example BCI""s 3301 handheld pulse oximeter and 3301T Oxitemp Oximeter. The handheld oximeters are mainly used for on-spot checking of a patient, while the vital sign monitors are used to measure myriad physiological parameters of a patient which may then be transmitted to a remote location such as for example a nursing station or a doctor""s office so that-the physiological parameters of the patient may be remotely monitored and analyzed. The fact that there are oftentimes a number of patients connected to separate vital sign monitors mean that there is a chance that the monitored parameters of a particular patient may be wrongly assigned to and be confused with another patient when displayed at the remote location. A system, and a device therefor, is therefore needed to ensure that patient outputs are correctly identified and assigned, particularly with being monitored pulse oximetry.
To provide positive identification of a patient, the system of the instant invention includes a finger grip device that has incorporated therein both an oximeter and a fingerprint sensor. The finger grip device may be connected to a controller on which both graphic display and numeric display may be provided for indicating the measured or monitored oxygen saturation level of the blood of the patient. The controller may include a fingerprint circuit in addition to the oximeter circuit and other physiological circuitries such as ECG, SpO2, pulse or heart rate, NIBP (Non-Invasive Blood Pressure), as well as temperature. The controller may also include a switch and a timer for controlling the activation of the fingerprint circuit, in relation to the oximeter circuit, so that a fingerprint scan of the finger of the patient may be activated for a brief period either before or after the oximeter circuit begins to measure the oxygen saturation in blood via the oximeter in the finger grip device. Alternatively, the activation of both the oximeter circuitry and the fingerprint circuitry may be done at the same time, and maintained on for the duration of the testing/monitoring. Further, the fingerprint sensor may be activated individually to obtain the fingerprint of a patient, which may be recorded in a memory, either in the controller or a remote memory store, or both.
To provide remote monitoring of the physiological parameters of a patient being measured, and specifically the oxygen saturation and the fingerprint of the patient, an optional display may be provided remotely from the controller such as for example at a nursing station or a doctor""s office.
The controller further includes a communications port that enables it to be connected to a remote computer, for example the mainframe computer of the hospital to which the patient records are stored. Either by means of the controller, or by a separate fingerprint scanner connected to the remote computer, the fingerprint of a patient may be scanned and stored in the memory store of the remote computer, for identifying the patient and matching the patient with her records, medical or otherwise, and her other being measured physiological data, which may also be stored in the memory of the remote computer. As a consequence, for any real time measuring or monitoring of the physiological data of a patient, by means of the fingerprint data stored in the controller to which the finger grip device is connect and the remote mainframe computer, the being measured physiological data is readily matched to the appropriate patient, whose identity is confirmed via her fingerprint while her physiological data is being collected.
The connection of the finger grip device to the controller is by way of a conventional cable. However, it is envisioned that a short range wireless communications protocol, such as Bluetooth, may also be used, so that the finger grip device does not need to be physically tethered to the controller.
It is therefore an objective of the present invention to provide a patient monitoring system that includes a finger grip device that has incorporated therein both an oximeter and a finger print sensor.
It is another objective of the present invention to use, by means of the sensed or scanned fingerprint of the patient, as her SPO2 is being measured, to identify the patient, so that both the being measured physiological data and any previously stored records of the-patient can be correlated or matched to the patient.